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At the end of the National Team Championship, Wang Lin returned to Hangzhou for recuperation. Owing to her knee injury, she has to wear a brace,practically unable to walk,the only rehabilitative exercise she can do is to raise her outstretched leg. Although she goes out occasionally to meet friends,but because she has to depend on a wheelchair to leave the house and someone to wheel her around, she usually spends more time at home. For her,such a free and easy life without training was what she'd wished for when in the national team, yet now that she found herself in such a situation, she felt uncomfortable all over. She exclaimed:"Unable to go out,coop up at home the whole day, how boring!"

On 18th January,Wang Lin headed for the Beijing 3rd Hospital to carry out her knee injury follow-up checkup and thereafter to decide on the next treatment plan. What she wished to do most now is to quietly recuperate from her injury. She said, after recovery,she wants to do her studies, but as to what to study, she hasn't got any definite idea yet. But one thing is certain, she wants to learn English. She said:" Not demanding how well I learn but at least be able to communicate basically."

As for her future, Wang Lin admitted she's not thinking too much, for at heart she is unable to let go of her badminton sentiments; after all the white spirit(shuttlecock) has accompanied her day and night for more than 10 years,to suddenly put it down, nobody can bear to. She said:" At heart it's certainly unbearable,but in future whether I can return to badminton, how to come back,let Fate decide !"

[A note on my translation: I prefer to stay as close as possible to the original, retaining the Chinese flavour; hope you don't mind my amateurish effort. I just want to share the news with fellow fans, that's all. Those of you who are good at translation might care to give me some advice.]

A minor point, the phrase "随缘吧" I translated it as "let Fate decide" (or leave it to Fate)based on my understanding though the literal meaning is "just let it be" or" just go with the flow", alternatively.

A minor point, the phrase "随缘吧" I translated it as "let Fate decide" (or leave it to Fate)based on my understanding though the literal meaning is "just let it be" or" just go with the flow", alternatively.

No need to go overboard with variation of 90%-100% correctness. It is good enough as it is.

No need to go overboard with variation of 90%-100% correctness. It is good enough as it is.

Thanks for your understanding ad encouragement.

For Wang Lin's case, I'm fairly pessimistic that she could make a third comeback, esp when her second one took almost two years to overcome her injury phobia, that nagging fear of injury acts as a deterrent and mental restriction to her game, worse than the injury itself. Remember she was always wearing a left knee support to give her the re-assurance and confidence every time she plays, almost like a fetish;in fact,she admitted as much that every time she landed on her left leg, she would hesitate a fraction of a second to ensure she was alright before continuing with her motion.

But life is unpredictable and full of surprises. Who knows, Wang Lin becomes even tougher and stronger than ever, or maybe there is a breakthrough in medical science for treating ACL completely with its recurrent rate almost zero - just indulging in some wishful thinking.

For Wang Lin's case, I'm fairly pessimistic that she could make a third comeback, esp when her second one took almost two years to overcome her injury phobia, that nagging fear of injury acts as a deterrent and mental restriction to her game, worse than the injury itself. Remember she was always wearing a left knee support to give her the re-assurance and confidence every time she plays, almost like a fetish;in fact,she admitted as much that every time she landed on her left leg, she would hesitate a fraction of a second to ensure she was alright before continuing with her motion.

But life is unpredictable and full of surprises. Who knows, Wang Lin becomes even tougher and stronger than ever, or maybe there is a breakthrough in medical science for treating ACL completely with its recurrent rate almost zero - just indulging in some wishful thinking.

Again your words seem to suggest that she is to blame for not being able to overcome her phobia. The problem was not the fear itself. The problem was that she (body and mind) wasn't really ready for playing again, that she obviously didn't take the right amount of time in order to come back. If taken seriously the fear would have saved her from getting injured once again.

I think it's high debatable with no clear conclusions about what went wrong with WL, with the lines separating fear and insufficient rest time very blurry. Anyway it's water under the bridge now, let's wish her a well deserved and speedy recovery. And if it doesn't work out in the end, we wish her well too.

I think it's high debatable with no clear conclusions about what went wrong with WL, with the lines separating fear and insufficient rest time very blurry. Anyway it's water under the bridge now, let's wish her a well deserved and speedy recovery. And if it doesn't work out in the end, we wish her well too.

Not debatable at all IMO. The fear (body signal) was there. She got injured two more times on the same knee.

Anyway...although it might sound strange at first view: there's always something good to take from such a devastating experience. I wish her all the best for the future!

The main goal of a therapy is: to make the basic functions of a knee work again (walking, running, jumping etc.). Everything else will follow.

Don't know what to think about the rehab speculation. But I really can't imagine her being kind of left alone with her problems.

No doubt. Still in an wheelchair is kind of scary after so many months. Hope the CBA did just stop caring for her since her likelihood of returning is small. At least, she needs to get back to normal daily routine without an wheel chair.

This is very interesting, although we don't know for sure if the article actually quotes Wang Lin the right way! If it does, it's pretty clear what the problem was.

BTW: Anybody capable of translating the article properly?

Here's what my google translation said:

Wang Lin was told by the doctors she could play again in about 6 months.

=> This is the usual time frame given by doctors treating professional athletes. Problem: it always depends on the individual severity of the injury and the individual process of the rehab!

She thinks that the clinic wasn't specialized in treating Badminton players and therefore couldn't predict how long it would take for her to get back on court again.

=> As I mentioned in another post, the therapy has to make sure that the basic functions of the knee work again. If that's the case the specific Badminton movements won't be that much of a problem. Although I don't know the details, I can't imagine that the clinic didn't provide a good therapy, even if they aren't that experienced with Badminton players.

Her special rehab in Germany ended after 3 months and wasn't continued properly.

Agreed. I'm no expert, but from everything I've learnt about injuries such as this, the special rehab in an intensive clinic (such as the one in Germany) cannot really last more than 3 months. Continuing rehab, physiotherapy and close monitoring of the recuperative process (includes periodic scans, MRIs, stress tests etc) must continue according to a strict plan for a star international sports pro like her. And again, from everything I know and have been personally told, this period can extend anywhere from 6 months to up to 2 years, depending on various factors.

It is during this second phase that any decisions can be taken about putting her back on active training, again with strict monitoring. Not competitive action - just active training in a controlled environment.

So, the second phase is more critical in terms of long-term impact. Evidently something went wrong there, or someone gave the wrong signal....

But to another disturbing issue that needs to be looked into in WS: too many serious knee injuries to too many players, too soon. Time was, the best players could be on the circuit for a half-dozen years (at least!) without any career-threatening/ending injuries. And their level of play was not really inferior from those today, considering the technology, quality of shoes, types of racquets etc. Apart from that, the only real qualitative difference I can see, is the type of training and the physical regimen. Have techniques become too demanding, then?

But when you keep on trying to ratchet up the performance of an engine beyond acceptable stress loads, something's gotta give. And please! it's not to do with the number of tournaments played. Those girls of 5, 10, 20 years ago played about as many per year, give or take.

Of course, they didn't have the new leagues and regional cups, back then...

No doubt. Still in an wheelchair is kind of scary after so many months. Hope the CBA did just stop caring for her since her likelihood of returning is small. At least, she needs to get back to normal daily routine without an wheel chair.

My Mandarin isn't too good either but let me try until somebody better is willing to do it:

The German hospital that operated on Wang Lin told her she could return to competition after six months which made her felt optimistic. But she has overlooked one point,this hospital previously concentrated on treating soccer, ice skating,etc. athletes, and these sports have different demands on the knees from badminton, as such six months to a badminton player is far from sufficient. After the three months recovery period (in Germany), Wang Lin upon returning home did not have the care of a specialized therapist, leaving her to do the rehabilitative exercises on her own most of the time, thereby falling short of her rehabilitation needs. At that time,Wang Lin was anxious to come back and accumulate points for the Olympics, but on 2011, April the 5th, at the Australian Open, her knee actually wasn't fully ready. [End of translation].

Actually the above passage refers to the period after her first injury incident on 15th Sep, 2010 at the CHN Masters, before her second incident in June 2011 at SG Open, and also not the recent third incident which occurred during the CHN National Team Championship at end 2012.

My understanding is that,for this third incident, as there was edema (swelling caused by excessive fluid retention) in the injured knee, the doctor could not be certain of the extent of the injury, whether the ACL was torn or completely ruptured, until the swelling has subsided to do a thorough examination. That's why she is instructed to recuperate at home for a period of time before deciding whether and/or when to undergo surgery.

Also it is the Chinese New Year period (Spring Festival), I believed most Chinese would prefer to spend time at home with their family. For sure,I trust CBA will ensure she receives the best medical care; just too early to tell if she can still return to competitive badminton, not too hopeful of that, I've to admit..